Large-scale computing currently has at least two significant limitations and/or drawbacks, each of which is ameliorated by the current disclosure.
1) Computers require electrical power in order to operate and perform their calculations. Some of the power energizes CPUs, GPUs, and/or TPUs. Some of it energizes the random-access memory. Some energizes shared and/or more persistent memory (e.g. hard disks). Some energizes switches, routers, and other equipment supporting network connections between computers.
As society's reliance on computers and computing increases, the portion of the world's energy budget that is consumed by computers and computing also increases. By some estimates, computers and computing currently consume approximately 2% of the world's total energy budget, and are predicted to consume approximately 25% of the world's electrical power by 2040. And,
2) Computers generate heat. Most (if not all) of the electrical power used to energize computers is converted to, and/or lost as, heat from the circuits and components that execute the respective computational tasks. The heat generated by computers can raise the temperatures of computers to levels that can cause those computers to make errors or fail, especially when the computers are located in close proximity to one another. Because of this, computers, and/or the environments in which they operate, must be cooled. And, cooling, e.g. through air conditioners and/or air conditioning, requires and/or consumes significant electrical power, in addition to the electrical power used to energize the computers (and generate the heat that must then be removed).